Damn, apparently Ad Populum shut down DST and laid off all employees. I wish all the folks impacted good luck in finding new jobs. I don't understand why Ad Populum would pay millions of dollars to buy Diamond Comic Distributors and DST just to shut both down. Maybe they retain some of the licenses and can release products under NECA?
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/diamond-select-toys-shut-down-as-part-of-ad-populum-purchase/
Yep, I assume that means the line is now dead. We may get Witchking and Eowyn if they are in production, but zero hope for the others.
this f***ing sucks. I hope someone picks it up in the future.
I wonder if the new owner gets to keep the licenses or if shuttering Diamond reverts the licenses back to the IP owners.
If the sales numbers were good and they keep the license I could see NECA taking it over and continuing the line depending on how much of the R&D has been done for the future waves. I could also see them starting over and using their connections with Target & Walmart to try to do an ultimate LOTR line. Basing it on the TMNT and Jaws figures it would be a step up in price. Who knows maybe they could go all nostalgia and do the ultimate releases in packaging calling back to the ToyBiz days. While I would be up for giving NECA LOTR figures a chance, I would not look forward to Target Haulathons and Walmart collector cons or whatever they call it.
NECA brings the Balrog back for $1,000
I wonder if the new owner gets to keep the licenses or if shuttering Diamond reverts the licenses back to the IP owners.
I have no idea about the terms of the Lord of the Rings licensing agreement, so I can't speak to that. I know for sure that the Marvel Select rights were non-transferrable and so that line is dead unless and until some new entity - NECA, McFarlane, someone else - wants to negotiate with Marvel and pick it up.
That may be the case for a bunch of the licenses Diamond Select held as well. I do wonder if Ad Populum - likely under it's NECA wing - will try to continue Mini-Mates and just reacquire licences...
I wonder would NECA, if they made LOTR as their own line, if they would start the whole line over again? I really liked that DST was giving us an opportunity to build that collection again and I was certainly looking forward to figures from “The Hobbit”. This is a bummer. I would love it if Zach and some of the rest of the Diamond Select Toys team could go over to the Nacelle Toys team and get to work on resurrecting Starships and Roleplay for the Star Trek line!
Aww sad news, but I was expecting it at this point.
I really hope Eowyn and the Witch King make it to the UK given that we get our releases about 6 months after you!
Maybe Zach can give us all the juicy details about what was planned now and be more candid about some of the decisions made for the line.
Aww sad news, but I was expecting it at this point.
I really hope Eowyn and the Witch King make it to the UK given that we get our releases about 6 months after you!
Maybe Zach can give us all the juicy details about what was planned now and be more candid about some of the decisions made for the line.
I would love all the unreleased details. How far was the line planned? Were there any figures they wanted to make that licensing said no to? What other creatures were planned?
RIP to my precious Black Gate Aragorn, although he is still up for PO so who knows.
At the very least, we got a complete Fellowship. And I acquired a bunch of Uruk-Hai and Moria Orcs. So I can feel somewhat satisfied.
On Friday I received an e-mail that Sparkle Pop LLC will be continuing to operate DST, this seems vaguely positive?
Taking it with a grain of salt. Hopefully
@arondir I'm so confused by what Ad Populum is doing with Diamond. They killed DST and seem to be letting Diamond Comic Distributors die. Did they pay $17 million just as a tax right off? Supposedly, Ad Populum has a lot of experience purchasing distressed companies, and their actions now are intentional. I wonder what business plan involves barely communicating as the companies purchased close or struggle. Maybe I'm just being naive and overly wishful that Ad Populum has a plan for DST that could result in more figures coming out.
Sparkle is now suing Alliance for shady business dealings during the purchase. It just seems like a big mess at this point.
@arondir I'm so confused by what Ad Populum is doing with Diamond. They killed DST and seem to be letting Diamond Comic Distributors die. Did they pay $17 million just as a tax right off? Supposedly, Ad Populum has a lot of experience purchasing distressed companies, and their actions now are intentional. I wonder what business plan involves barely communicating as the companies purchased close or struggle. Maybe I'm just being naive and overly wishful that Ad Populum has a plan for DST that could result in more figures coming out.
Romney-affiliated Bain Capital did similar to first Kay-Bee toys, effectively bleeding it dry before discarding the husk. Then it started in on ToysRUs. Apparently the only way for a toy store to survive is to live like a cockroach and be too small for larger predators to concern themselves with, or function entirely online.
Some of these companies don't purchase organizations to save them unfortunately.
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